Kiruba is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, podcaster and a farmer.

Something very interesting happened recently. I asked on my Facebook wall a simple request, “If you ever wanted to author a book in your lifetime, click the ‘Like’ button.“. To my utter surprise, 261 people showed interest in authoring a book. Over 80 people have even finalized their topic of the book. It is astounding to see the kind of interest that people have in writing a book.

However, even though people have the intent and desire to author a book, it’s a lot tougher to put that into action. When I started with book authoring many years ago, I faced that problem initially and I really wished there was someone to help guide me and motivate me.

Having authored four books now (and working on my fifth), I figured it would be nice to have an event to help people achieve their dream of authoring their book. Thus was born the ‘Book Authoring Retreat‘. It’s an intense, highly focused, two day book writing workshop which is part of the 100 day plan to bring out the book. The aim of the retreat is to encourage and help the participants publish their book by March 1st, 2014. Every participant commits to ensuring that their book gets published by that deadline.

It takes place in a lush green 9 acre farm in a beautiful village. You can get more details about the event at http://Kiruba.com/authoring

I’m a big believer in bucket-lists. I remember I made a list on the eve of the year 2000 and when I turn back and look at the list, it has really defined me as a person. It has given me the right clarity and focus in pushing forward.

I have been meaning to do a retreat focused on chalking out things that we truly want to pursue in our lives. Thus was born The Bucket-List Bootcamp. More info at http://Kiruba.com/bucketlist

While its easy for us to write down the list ourselves, its far more difficult to follow up and turn them into reality. Just like how training for a marathon as a group makes it easy, gunning for our goals makes it possible with the right team. The goal of the bootcamp is to invite 15 very motivated individuals with lots of hunger to pursue their passion together and help form a self-supporting group. Each of us will push others to achieve our goals.

The event takes place at my 9 acre farm, a nice, quiet, idyllic place to relax and plan our life. More about the place at http://Kiruba.com/farmstay

The event takes place on September 14 & 15, 2013. We are currently inviting application to select the best 15 people. If you are interested, I encourage to apply at http://Kiruba.com/bucketlist/bootcamp. Click on the ‘Apply’ button. Once selected, each participant makes a door donation of Rs.3000 which will be spent towards workshop materials, resource persons, fresh organic farm fresh meals, accommodation, local travel and excursion to Gingee Fort. There’s option to make the payment in installments if you need flexibility in payment.

Do you know a person who can benefit from this? Please do share the word around. Thank you in advance.

I came across this particular piece of statistics while browsing through the Net last night. It says that an average Indian lives around 70 years. Lets do the math.

If you’re 20 years old, you have approximately 2,500 weekends left to live.
If you’re 30 years old, you have 2,000 weekends left.
If you’re 40, you have 1,500 weekends left.
If you’re 50, you have 1,000 weekends left.
If you’re 60, a mere 500 weekends.

A lot of things come out clear after reading this.

1) I will turn 40 this year and this means I will approximately have 1500 weekends to live. That’s just 3000 days of Saturdays and Sundays. That’s it. That doesn’t sound much at all. Think of how old you are and how many weekends you have?

2) It also shows the stark reality that our parents and grand-parents have much lesser time. We must consciously spend more time with them. Evenings and Weekends are NOT for work.

3) I learned something profound from my friend Chendil Kumar (CK), someone who survived a massive heart attack. He told me that in his second life, he has a choice to life happily and that’s what he has consciously chosen to. A great tip. This single meeting inspired me to start the ‘UnKick the Bucket‘ project to find the true priorities in our lives.

4) I have also leaned to consciously remove any negative-minded people from my life. We have a choice in life and lets exercise it.

5) On the contrary I constantly keep looking for people who have a zest for life and passion for living. They radiate positivity. Those are the people we must bring into our lives.

Its the second week of January 2013. The time when our new year resolutions lose steam! Read these 3 tips by my friend Ramnath Subbaraman.

New Year Resolutions: 3 Tips from Science

1. KEEP IT TO YOURSELF: Because, announcing your goal gives you a “premature sense of completeness”, and you are less likely to work hard towards achieving it, according to a study – When Intentions Go Public – by New York University professor Peter M. Gollwitzer. (Via)

2. KEEP IT SMALL: Because, small things – such as doing 10 push ups as soon as you wake up, or playing guitar for 3 minutes everyday – are more likely to become a habit, says Stanford professor BJ Fogg. Check out his site tinyhabits (Via)

3. KEEP YOUR COOL: Because, a relapse of an old habit doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. “It’s like learning to ride a bicycle. Almost everybody falls at least once,” Alan Marlatt says. If you fail once, pick yourself up, fight the abstinence violation effect and keep going.

And, one more, KEEP A SCORECARD: Because, Hawthorne Effect suggests you’ll do better when you are being monitored. (The Nike Experiment: How the Shoe Giant Unleashed the Power of Personal Metrics | Wired)

I was reading through Robin Sharma’s ‘62 Tips to Get Unstuck in 2013‘. Pretty impressive list even though most of them are commonsense. Out of 62 points, I asked myself what would be the 10 that really stuck a chord with me. Here they are.

Be on time. (bonus points: be early)

Do a collage filled with images of your ideal life. Look at it once a day for focus and inspiration.

Do something that makes you feel uncomfortable at least once every 7 days.

Remember that ordinary people talk about their goals. Leaders get them done. With speed.

Spend an hour a day without stimulation (no phone+no FaceBook+no noise).